How dating app Bumble got off track, according to its CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd
Bumble's CEO knows you're not happy with dating apps.
The dating app company reported its first-quarter earnings on Wednesday, and Bumble's founder, Whitney Wolfe Herd, was blunt about how the company's focus on growth "came with a hidden cost."
"What we learned is that just adding more profiles does not guarantee better matches," Wolfe Herd added. "In fact, it can lead to the opposite — more mismatches, more fake or low-quality profiles, and a frustrating experience. As mass quality dropped, some members got discouraged, found fewer successful matches and dates, and fewer people recommended the app to others."
Wolfe Herd also said Bumble's pivot from word-of-mouth marketing to performance channels hurt the app's user experience.
Bumble — and many other dating apps — saw rapid growth during the pandemic. Riding the wave, Bumble had its IPO in 2021. Since hitting its all-time high in February 2021, however, the company's stock price has dropped by more than 90%.
In January 2024, Wolfe Herd stepped down as CEO, and that February, the company laid off hundreds of staffers (about 30% of the company) ahead of a relaunch of the app. Wolfe Herd returned to Bumble as CEO this March.
The company reported a 7.7% decline in total revenue for the first quarter, decreasing from $267 million in the first quarter of 2024 to $247 million in the same period in 2025. Bumble app revenue also dropped 6.5%.
But Wolfe Herd said she has a plan to get Bumble back on track.
In addition to pulling back performance marketing spend, she said the company would double down on removing "bad intention members that have degraded match quality and member trust," while also building out more technology like a "personalized matching algorithm" using AI.
Bumble's not the only dating app company looking for new lanes. As dating app giants face headwinds, a slew of new startups have emerged. Some have attracted the attention of both users and investors, particularly with new AI-powered features like matchmaking.
Meanwhile, Bumble's primary competition, Match Group — which owns Tinder and Hinge — announced Thursday that it's planning to lay off 13% of its staff, and also reported a 3% year-over-year revenue decline in the first quarter. The company said this was driven by a 5% decline in paying users.
Match's new CEO, Spencer Rascoff, also discussed the challenges dating apps are facing.
"The category challenges have been due primarily to a lack of innovation and our failure to recognize and respond to changes in the younger demographic, especially Gen Z and what they want," he said.
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